Noel Robins

David Noel Robins, OAM (3 September 1935 – 22 May 2003) was an Australian sailor. He began sailing as a child, and became partially quadriplegic after receiving a spinal fracture from a car crash at the age of 21. He was the skipper of Australia in the 1977 America's Cup, won the 1981 Admiral's Cup, and won a gold medal in sailing at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. He died on 22 May 2003, four weeks after being struck by a car.

Personal

Robins was born in Perth on 3 September 1935. He graduated from Claremont Teachers College in 1955. He was married and had three children, two daughters and a son. He was known by his fellow sailors as "Stumbles".

Career

Robins's first national sailing competition was the 14 ft Championship in 1958, and his first international competition was the Sydney Sailing World Championships in 1973. He won an international Soling Class, was selected by Alan Bond to be the skipper of Australia, the Australian challenger at the 1977 America's Cup, He was also a member of the Australian National Maritime Museum's governing council from 1998, an executive director of the Duyfken 1606 Replica Foundation, and a long-time member and deputy chair of the Swan River Trust.

In 2000, he won the North American championship for disabled persons in St. Petersburg, Florida with Jamie Dunross and Graeme Martin, in preparation for the 2000 Sydney Games. At the games, he won a gold medal with Dunrose and Martin in the Mixed Three Person Sonar event, and became the oldest Australian to win a medal at the Paralympics. He received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2001 for his Paralympic gold medal. in 2020, Robins along with Jamie Dunross and Graeme Martin were inducted into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame.